Rain
by starchain88
Summary: Sasuke thinks maybe Naruto is like the rain: loud, inescapable, inevitable. And if Naruto's the rain, then Sakura's the rustling of the leaves being hit by the drops, a more earthly counterpoint to the storm…


**Rain**

_Sasuke thinks maybe Naruto is like the rain: loud, inescapable, inevitable. And if Naruto's the rain, then Sakura's the rustling of the leaves being hit by the drops, a more earthly counterpoint to the storm…_

**Characters**: Team 7; Sasuke/Naruto friendship; slight SasuSaku.

**Word Count**: 1,614 words.

**Warnings**: Spoilers for recent manga chapters, starting in the 390s, I think. Also, swearing. Sasuke has a mouth on him. XD

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. If I did, the art would be terrible, but Sasuke would stop sucking a LOT sooner. (ehehe)

* * *

Sasuke knows the fight is _over_, really over, when Naruto's knees appear to give out, and he falls limply to the ground. He looks at Sasuke, an abnormally complex look, and then his eyes flutter closed, as though he had fallen asleep.

Sasuke is no longer human: Sasuke is a machine. Without even pausing, he pulls his sword out of its sheath, and strides over to where Naruto lies, completely vulnerable against the rain-washed stone. He hefts it, stands at the boy's head poised to strike –

And then freezes up, because it's all so fucking _similar_.

The Valley of the End. Even though he and Naruto are just outside of still-smoking Konoha, this ugly stretch of soaking rock could be the Valley of the End. Grey, and empty, and wet.

_It was raining last time, too…_

Why couldn't he kill Naruto then? Somewhere, his numb heart remembers, but it's buried so deep that it hardly has meaning. But Sasuke's mind – still unshakably clear, despite the many long years of near-_insanity_ – recalls his twelve-year-old self, standing above a prone twelve-year-old Naruto, and a single thought: _I can't kill him… _

Sasuke wishes he couldn't remember that thought. In the subsequent days, he'd buried it with rationalization, but – much like the stupid moron who had provoked it – the thought refused to stop disturbing his peace. Always, at every turn, back it came…

And as a droplet of rain curls _stupidly_ down his face, like a tear, and as he thinks that rain should just be lifeless rain, something strikes him in a rush – _Itachi, Itachi fighting, Itachi bleeding-stumbling-fucking smiling – Itachi dead, Itachi covered in rain – _

Every muscle in his body turns to stone, and then something really does strike him, a kunai in his stomach.

He curses and falls, and his knees hit the stone hard, and through his pain-dizzied sight, he can see… pink…

_Well, fuck._

He could have laughed. The irony, the _fucking_ irony! Of course, she wouldn't even have aimed for anything vital, just adding to Sasuke's _frustration_… And of course, she'd know where to hit… She's a medic now…

And to think it used to be him regarding her with scorn whenever she let her emotions take over. Sasuke wonders what happened to him. He thinks it's Naruto's fault… He doesn't know.

Such fucking irony, that Sakura is regarding him with scorn, as opposed to the other way around… though the tears that cluster in the corners of her eyes somewhat dampen the effect.

_Hmm_.

Despite that, her voice still cuts like a knife when she says, "You're not going to kill him." A simple statement of fact, with no inflection.

Sasuke doesn't answer, doesn't even look. He's lost a lot of blood… and despite Sakura's _utter lack_ of intent to kill, the wound is still a torso wound, a precarious place. He can just barely move… maybe. But, after such a long grueling battle, and then this wound, he can't fight. Not even Sakura.

In response to Sasuke's silence, Sakura has moved to Naruto's side. She doesn't kneel or try to touch him; she just looks down at him through the corner of her eye… Sasuke thinks maybe one of the tears falls. But it could be rain.

Rain… it's like some kind of sick cosmic joke. Every time Sasuke has been knocked to his knees in every sense of the word – when he visited his home after _the massacre_, when he fought Naruto at the Valley of the End, when he killed Itachi, at this moment – it fucking _rains_. Like somebody's taunting him: _You can't cry. You don't know how._

But it's wrong… Sasuke has cried… he thinks. He can't really remember. It didn't really matter when he did.

Sakura sits down heavily beside Naruto, and pulls the other half of his body into her lap. She's not looking up, but the tense set of her shoulders tells Sasuke that she's aware of his every move. Sakura runs a hand through Naruto's hair, with a sisterly kind of loving anguish…

"What are you going to do to me?" Sasuke asks flatly.

Sakura looks at him. The rain has matted her hair to the sides of her face, and the _green-eyes-on-white-skin-on-pink-hair-on-gray-rock_ is making his eyes hurt. In a way she looks… pretty, but in a way she looks pathetic, soaked to the bone and dirty….

And in a way she looks frightening, with that hard look in her eyes. It's so bizarrely misplaced. He looks back, and thinks of the last look Naruto gave him, and thinks that they have all changed so much, it's like three totally different people.

Sakura continues to look at him hard, but she doesn't answer. Sasuke can feel anger blossoming in his chest, _What is she waiting for?_

He breathes too deeply – it jars the kunai, and he flinches inward, pressing a hand to try and stop the blood flow. Then he doesn't move anymore.

Sakura finally speaks, and her voice is heavy with tears. "I should _kill_ you."

"But you won't."

She doesn't deny it.

A few moments later she whispers, "So come back."

She knows it's futile. They both do.

The spark of anger flares. "Why the _hell_ would I want to do that?" Sasuke hisses. It's as close as he can get to yelling at this point.

"B-because it's your _home_!" cries Sakura, the tears and rain making her pale skin almost shine. She looks as though she'd like to go to him, but instead she just knots her hands ever tighter in Naruto's jacket.

"And why should that mean anything?" Sasuke asks, voice deadly with fury. "It stopped being my home when I was eight years old, because after that, everything was _death_, wasn't it? Nothing mattered except Itachi, and you fucking well know it! I haven't belonged in that city since I was a _child_, and if you honestly expect me to come back –"

"Then where do you belong, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura bursts out, and Sasuke finds it ridiculous that he's shocked into silence, because she interrupted him, and because he has no answer.

She takes a deep breath, and begins to say, beseechingly, "You've done what you set out to do, Itachi is dead, I know –"

"You don't know," Sasuke cuts her off. "You don't know anything." It sounds ridiculous, but he doesn't stop. "Will you stop fucking pretending, Sakura? You never understood. You didn't, you don't. You…"

_You what? _

Sakura has not turned away from him, it seems, by using all of her strength of will. Sasuke wonders where all this anger is coming from… Stupid Naruto, bringing it all back… Naruto has always had that effect, and Sasuke has never hated it so much.

Sakura starts to speak in a low voice. "No, no I don't understand you, Sasuke-kun. I – I… don't understand why you won't come back to us."

Sasuke starts to speak, but she hurriedly stops him.

"Maybe you wouldn't come back for me, but what about for him?"

There's no question who she means.

Sakura draws in a shuddering breath and continues, "You must have noticed: He's given up everything for you! He's still a genin, did you know? He spends all of his time training, but not so he can move up rank – it's so he can catch _you_! He's gained everyone's respect, _everyone's_, but he hasn't even noticed, I don't think, because if it's not you, it doesn't matter to him anymore!"

Sasuke wants her to _shut up_, but she can't be stopped; the words are hitting him, hard, much harder than the fat droplets falling from the sky…

"And yes, you're right, I _don't_ understand you, but I saw the look on your face! You weren't going to kill him, you can't kill him, because no matter how you act, he means just as much to you as you do to him!"

Sakura lets out a single sob, and with what seems a herculean effort, she swallows the rest of them and says, deadly serious:

"So... for his sake, for _his_ sake… come back."

Sasuke knows it's all true. He hates it, hates himself, but it's all true.

They both look at Naruto, and in the long silence, Sasuke thinks maybe Naruto is like the rain: loud, inescapable, inevitable. And if Naruto's the rain, then Sakura's the rustling of the leaves being hit by the drops, a more earthly counterpoint to the storm… the leaves are green, like her eyes…

"It doesn't change anything," Sasuke says with finality, and Sakura bows her head.

Sasuke is tempted to tell her everything, to tell her of the village's betrayal of his clan, of why Itachi did everything he did, but decides it isn't worth it. Instead, he gets slowly, painfully to his feet. Sakura doesn't move as he sheathes his sword, and she doesn't look up as he walks slowly and stiffly past her.

She won't come after him. This encounter is done, and she's too weak to stop him. And one more time, Sasuke leaves his team behind him in cold silence. As he enters the forest, he can hear Sakura's faint sobs, but he doesn't look back.

* * *

Once he is safely away from the village, he stops to bandage his wounds, unconsciously grimacing as he binds the one Sakura left. When he's finished, he allows himself to collapse at the base of a lone tree, and lets the rain wash over him. He looks down to his pale chest and sees the blood and dirt flowing away, leaving the pale skin unblemished again.

Naruto is like the rain. It washes all the sin away.

As Sasuke's eye flutter shut, the last thing he sees are the wet green leaves. But the rain follows, its rushing noise, its incessant flow, following Sasuke even into darkness.

**A/N**: He's not dead, in case you were wondering XD.

I don't know where this fic came from... Well, I do. Ch. 402 just killed me... I won't even go there.

I hope they were all IC? Not that Naruto did much... I know Sasuke and Sakura don't usually have this sort of conversation, but Naruto is such a catalyst for them... Even though he was unconcious, he drew out both of his teammates.

Please review!! I'll give you cookies!! waves a plate of chocolate chip delights in your face


End file.
